eBay launches social-shopping 'neighborhoods'

eBay is allowing users to create "neighborhoods" organized around certain types of merchandise. This is just getting started, but it seems to have vast potential.

Here's one for Stephen King fans. As you can see, the neighborhood page pulls together listings, book reviews, guides, blogs, and discussion posts related to King books -- and you could create one for any other niche.

It's a pretty neat "social shopping" idea, and you can probably see how seller could tap this feature for free advertising. For example, if you were selling a first edition signed by King, you could come right to this neighborhood and post your details to the discussion board. And since the eBay members congregating here are King fans, your free exposure here would probably be more valuable than a listing on eBay's home page -- and without the listing upgrade fee!

The possibilities for using this Neighborhoods feature are endless. Are you an expert on Agatha Christie books? Start a neighborhood about it. Boom, you're in business. So far, there are only a few book categories.

Kudos to eBay for rolling out a feature that makes it easier for shoppers to find stuff to buy. Here are more details.